This invention relates to a method of flavoring food products. The invention also relates to apparatus for use in performance of the method.
Snack foods and other food products are manufactured in enormous quantities: flavoring compounds are usually provided in extremely concentrated form and require homogenous dilute application to avoid adverse consumer reaction. Conventional manufacturing processes have involved application of powdered flavoring using a screw conveyor or vibrating doctor. Such arrangements do not achieve homogeneous distribution of the flavoring. It has often been necessary to dilute the flavoring with a carrier such as flour to reduce the incidence of agglomerations. Adherence of the flavoring whether or not in the presence of a carrier, to the foodstuff is poor. Deposits of concentrated flavoring accumulate on the apparatus and must be removed regularly. This is both wasteful and time consuming.
The problem of poor adhesion is particularly significant in automatic weighing machines which are used for packaging snack foods and like products. These machines which operate at high speeds become inaccurate when deposits of flavoring occur. It has been necessary to stop production so that weighing machines can be cleaned manually on an hourly basis. Furthermore the powdered flavoring has been found to occlude the seals of bags into which the products are placed. This reduces shelf life. Moreover the powdered flavoring forms airborne dust which contaminates adjacent apparatus and is unpleasant for personnel.
Electrostatic powder deposition apparatus is well established, for example for polymer coatings. Despite the problems mentioned above, electrostatic flavoring applicators have not generally been used. Previous proposals have involved use of an airborne flow of charged flavoring. This has the drawback of increasing airborne contamination in the vicinity of the apparatus, particularly when applied to hot foodstuffs, for example when freshly emergent from a fire when convection currents may occur.